[YoungGeographer]

Hi,

I'm an international student and I'm curious about the lack of MA's in Geography at both Oxford & Cambridge. Why is this? I expected Oxford's Geography Department to be more focussed on Human Geography at postgrad level. Even though I would love to do my masters there this absence has kept me away from that and I ended up with offers from both KCL and UCL.

Any ideas about why Human Geography has been outcasted by these 2 world-class unis?

[RocknRap]

KCL and UCL don't offer Master's courses in 'geography' either....what courses did you get offers for exactly?

Geography is far too broad a subject to be offered as a Master's course. You can do courses in SPECIFIC parts of geography though e.g. globalisation, urban studies, development and so on

[didgeridoo12uk]

pretty sure cambridge does MPhils in geography

[YoungGeographer]

Sorry, I think I wasn't too specific, I didn't "MAs in Geography" in general but MAs as Master of Arts in a specific field of Geography, as all of the Masters offered at Oxbridge are MSc and pretty much focused on Physical Geography, either on resource management or climate change from a very "physical" perspective. They have actually very interesting groups of research in areas such as political geography , but no real or logical gateway master degrees that would act as a gateway for a future PhD in one these more human or regional fields. Still, I think I will try to apply for a PhD after finishing my MA if I am successful and I get very high marks =)

[Craghyrax]

(Original post by YoungGeographer)
Sorry, I think I wasn't too specific, I didn't "MAs in Geography" in general but MAs as Master of Arts in a specific field of Geography, as all of the Masters offered at Oxbridge are MSc and pretty much focused on Physical Geography, either on resource management or climate change from a very "physical" perspective. They have actually very interesting groups of research in areas such as political geography , but no real or logical gateway master degrees that would act as a gateway for a future PhD in one these more human or regional fields. Still, I think I will try to apply for a PhD after finishing my MA if I am successful and I get very high marks =)

The Gender Studies MPhil at Cambridge is actually provided by their Geography department (although it is interdisciplinary), so I don't think its true that they don't offer more social sciencey options.

[returnmigrant]

Many Universities are re-thinking the whole idea of Geography as a single discipline. When you think it can include everything from 'historical demography' to 'volcanoes' to 'the geography of retail' to 'cartography', having all of that in one Dept is a big ask.

So, you will find smaller, more 'specialist' Depts doing 'geography stuff' but necessarily called 'Geography'. And many Geography Masters course reflect this. Since the whole point of a Masters degree is to specialise/narrow the field, then an MA in 'General Geography' is a bit of a non-starter.

Do a Google search on the sub-field of Geography you are interested in (ie. "population geography", or "GIS" or whatever) plus "ac.uk" and this will bring up the Unis that are likely to offer the appropriate specialist MA/MSc courses.

[returnmigrant]

Look for instance at Human Geog courses at :

Uni of Bristol - http://www.bristol.ac.uk/geography/p...graduates/msc/

Uni of Sussex - http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/2013/taught/3771/27499

Uni of Birmingham - http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/students...an-living.aspx

Uni of Glasgow MRes course -
http://www.ges.gla.ac.uk:443/degrees...rses/humanMRes

[The Mr Z]

(Original post by YoungGeographer)
Hi,

I'm an international student and I'm curious about the lack of MA's in Geography at both Oxford & Cambridge. Why is this? I expected Oxford's Geography Department to be more focussed on Human Geography at postgrad level. Even though I would love to do my masters there this absence has kept me away from that and I ended up with offers from both KCL and UCL.

Any ideas about why Human Geography has been outcasted by these 2 world-class unis?

The reason they don't offer an "MA" is because of the "MA Oxon" and "MA Cantab" qualifications (Which replace the Bachelors degrees of other universities) - they offer "MSc"s "MPhil"s instead to avoid confusion. This doesn't make any practical difference, but it means if you're searching specifically for an MA course then the Oxbridge ones won't show up.

However the more overall scientific focus is just a reflection of what higher-level academia is like. All modern academia attempts to approach subject areas from a rational and evidence-based perspective rather than an opinionated one. In geography this is a semi-scientific process attempting to quantify as much as possible.

You'll find you may need to alter your search terms slightly to find what you're looking for.

[rise17]

Well, you can always do an MPhil with a heavy research component. In any way, if you intend to further beyond Masters, a research component is always good. There has also been a recent shift in many Masters programmes to include a research component to their course structure.

There are many reasons, both in terms of universities' and departmental levels' strategic thrusts, as to what sort of Masters programs are offered. If you look at the LSE programmes (http://www2.lse.ac.uk/geographyAndEn...mmes/Home.aspx) you will find their Masters courses with a heavier focus on urban geographies with a policy slant. UCL, Sussex, and some other UoLs might leverage more on their reputation and strengths on the urban, globalisation and migration courses to offer Masters in these areas.

If you are not willing to take up a MPhil in Oxbridge, then what I can say is that other universities are also offering Masters (in a broader spectrum of human geographical focus) that are well respected and highly regarded. In fact, at the disciplinary level, it's not necessarily Oxbridge that provides the best options. Depending on the area of specialisation, the UoLs, LSE, Sussex, and Edinburgh are all highly regarded for their programs.

Do keep on researching on the various graduate programs!